In the first of two Arsenal games this evening, Neil Banfield’s Reserves looked to collect their third win of the season, and maintain their push for the title against a strong West Ham outfit at Bishop Stortford.
News broke before kick off that Nottingham Forest had signed midfielder James Dunne, his replacement Francis Coquelin shrugged off injury to start in an experiential diamond formation. Paul Rodgers and AbuOgogo had failed to win contracts with Forest, they were both granted starts as Banfield made seven changes to the team that beat Stoke.
An injury before kick off meant Craig Eastmond was replaced with the jet-lagged Rui Fonte, a difficult start before the fixture had even kicked off.
Mannone
Ogogo – Rodgers – Hoyte (c) – Steer
Randall
Coquelin – Mérida
Bischoff
Murphy – Simpson
Subs – Shea – Thomas – Ayling – Fonte – Sunu
Arsenal 0-1 West Ham United – Match Report
Arsenal won the kick off, and inside the first 90 seconds, Jan Lastuvka was forced into action, tipping Rhys Murphy’s side footed shot just wide. It took until the second minute before the Hammers even got a touch of the ball, via a throw in.
A scrappy start saw Sears have the first attack from the hosts, Rodgers responded with a powerful run out from defence, until Murphy failed to hold the ball up. Lopez’s flashed cross had Mannone scrambling, a nervous first seven minutes for Arsenal.
Rodgers and Randall would then combine down the middle, the latter teed up Bischoff in the hole, he jinked to the edge of the box before unleashing a powerful drive, inches over.
Steer began very well down the left, his drilled cross was deflected behind for a corner, which Rodgers failed to connect with. The opening 15 minutes was spoilt by a lack of flow, caused by a careless waste of possession, something both teams were guilty off.
The Gunners would have the ball in the net first, an explosive run from Jay Simpson saw him cut inside, a released ball found Murphy on the left, his side footed cross presented a tap in for Mérida, but Rhys was adjudged offside.
Straight up the other end, a brave challenge from Steer on Sears stopped a certain goal, Rene put his body between the ball and the line, and came out on top. Davenport crashed the resulting corner kick just wide, before Banfield’s boys scored again.
Bischoff’s intelligent play on the right won a set-piece, Randall lobbed a cross over the Hammers back-line, Murphy volleyed home emphatically, yet the offside flag cancelled out the superb finish.
Moments later, another goal would be scored, but this time it would count. Lopez found space on the left flank, the Argentine’s clipped ball was flicked into the net via the outside of Junior Stanislas’ right peg.
Goal – Junior Stanislas (24)
A dramatic tackle by Gavin Hoyte on Sears could have been a penalty, but even the free kick was dangerous. Boa Morte’s dipping delivery found Davenport, Sears failed to connect with the re-bound from two yards. A swift break saw Coquelin put Simpson in, Jay lashed into the stand from a fantastic position.
A delicious move from West Ham looked set to bring the second, that was until Coquelin stamped the ball away from Mullins and started a counter-attack of his own. Francis and Murphy worked an angle, the Frenchman pulled it back to Bischoff 16 yards out, the delayed shot was swiped away by Spence.
Terrible play from Steer conceded possession to Boa Morte in the middle, composure from the former Gunner created the space for Sears, Mannone pulled off an athletic save to rescue the visitors.
Coquelin was again playing in the box-to-box role, he led a break out which had 4 in Yellow against two in Maroon & Blue, Francis decided to play Murphy in, and Lastuvka grabbed his tame side footed effort. Rhys had a second chance to open his account seconds after, Simpson’s menacing cross just bypassing the England International.
Randall’s long ranger was about as close as Arsenal came in the closing stages, a Half Time reshuffle was certainly needed.
Half Time – Arsenal 0-1 West Ham United
Whilst Banfield was busy handing out instructions during the break, two goals in as many minutes had the first team 2-0 up, how the Reserves needed that sort of conversion rate.
As the minutes ticked down, the concentration drained away, Boa Morte should have made sealed it as the defensive issues were exposed again. Ogogo was caught out down the right, Luis twisted and turned to take Rodgers and Hoyte out of the equation, a dreadful finish brought relief.
Randall curled a great free kick into the arms of Lastuvka on the hour mark, Mérida also had a pop at goal, neither brought a serious goal threat.
The Gunners were holding on, but only just. Steer was forced to block Davenport’s header on the line, Mannone had gone missing. For everything good that Rene had a done, his constant wasting of valuable possession was extremely harmful.
Gilles Sunu had proved superb when replacing Bischoff against Stoke, and although he was warming up, the unpredictable Jay Emmanuel-Thomas was brought on, replacing Rene Steer. Moments later Murphy’s night was over, and finally Sunu was brought into the action.
Bischoff – Simpson
Sunu – Mérida – Randall – Coquelin
Thomas – Rodgers – Hoyte – Ogogo
Mannone
Gilou’s flowing run from left to right had West Ham backing off, the ball popped out to Simpson who was close to lobbing the advancing ‘keeper. A bad decision from Randall ended up in a swift break, only a shocking finish from Tony Stokes spared the blushes.
With 15 minutes left, it was needs must. Rui Fonte, a late inclusion after an injury to Craig Eastmond, was drafted on having only just returned to London after playing and scoring for Portugal’s Under 19’s. The change nearly had an instant impact, Fonte, Sunu and Simpson switched the play to the right, the latter ruined the move with his average cut back.
Mannone’s excellent challenge showed full commitment as Stokes was put through again, and then a clumsy foul led to an Arsenal free-kick in Rui Fonte’s territory. Thomas and Bischoff both talked about the chance, but Mérida took it, and Davenport managed to get his body in the way.
It would be the last big opportunity of the second period, experienced counted in the end and West Ham walked away with the points. Positives come in the form of Bischoff’s 90 minutes, and Mannone’s solid performance, but there certainly leaves a lot to be worked on.
Article By – J.Sanderson
Easy win for a youthful Hammers side.
Stanislas, Sears, Spence and Collison certainly looked better than these Young Guns who have been getting all the press and even the great Tomkins didn’t play tonight, who is the best of the lot!
The future is West Ham, not Arsenal! Ciao! xxx
LOL, Well done Hammers.
It’s what happens when you play unwanted first team players in the Reserves. Boa Morte and Davenport were very good, and managed to out wit our uninventive youngsters.
Certainly means nothing in regards to the future, because you played mostly first team players, with youngsters making up the numbers.
West Ham deserved to win tonight, but Arsenal still have the better players coming through.
Where was Wilshere this nigth ? Since he is not present in turkey ?
England Under 17 duty with Frimpong and Freeman. You will note, not a single West Ham youngster named.
http://www.thefa.com/England/U17s/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/U17s_qualifying_squad_08.htm
where was bartley?
He played for the Under 18’s at the weekend.
ok, just thought he was injured… When is Lansbury back from suspension ?
RAMSEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Came back too late to watch the game, but from your resume Steer didnt quite sell himself… How did Rodgers do ?
Barazite stretchered off for Derby in a leg brace, doesn’t look good.
http://www.arsene-al.co.uk
West Ham’s kids don’t get selected for the England Yoofs until the Under 19s and Under 21s because we tend not to sign Big pseudo-African 16 year olds who are only good cos they are massive, Chuiks Aneke, Benik Afobe, Emmanuel Frimpong, Fabrice Muamba etc.
West Ham sign technically correct kids like Noble, Carrick, Cole, Sears and Stanislas etc. who will shine when adults as they are better on the ball and tactically and technically correct.
All of which came through the academy as u10 years olds … do some research bruv. Ok, we’ll continue signing these ‘Big pseudo-African 16 year olds’ and challenge for the Premier League, you sign these ‘technically correct kids’, lose them to bigger clubs and finish in the bottom 10.
Good luck with that.
http://www.arsene-al.co.uk
Oh, and also, you left out Randall, Lansbury, Gibbs and Wilshere, all of which are English, and not ‘psuedo-Africans’.
http://www.arsene-al.co.uk
Zola Is God
West Ham Uniteds 14 year old striker Robert Hall is in the England U16’s squad to play against Wales U16’s having perviously played against the Northern Ireland U16’s a couple of weeks ago and he looked an outstanding prospect for the future
hehe…zola is god I see you are getting bored in your spare time. If the Hammers management was better and more able to build on the good talent work, as JS pointed out the Hammers academy, they might have been able to get some results as well. In stead of using all their money on a Gunners legend, who is sadly not by his old standards, and other foreign and domestic flops.
whats wiv sum of the hammers fans on ere! anyways while r youth Reserves lost to west spam mix of youth and pros! the real stuff where results matter arsenal young guns beat the turks in there back yard…peace and love,peace and love lol
I guess what you are writing here shows the frustration of the Hammers supporters, and I truly wish the management there could step up.
Nice we get the stereo typical West Ham racist scum bag on here. Rancid moron.
Diaby back with a storm, that was beautiful! Ramsey scoring as well…
How is it with Merida? Is he able to create the hammock for the opposition as Wenger commented he was an excellent prospect?
West Ham are so irrelevant it’s laughable.
Africans don’t have to be black! So racism is your problem, not mine! :-)
Stech
Spence Tomkins Payne Widdowson
Stanislas Noble Collison Reid
Sears Hines
vs.
Mannone
Hoyte Song Djourou Traore
Diaby Fabregas Denilson
Walcott Bendtner Vela
Only 1 winner – Der Hammers!!!
hehe…always look at the bright side of life. Congratulations with the game and hope that you soon can also have you of your first team winning
Zola’s ignorance, and blind support of West Ham is really laughable.
http://youngguns.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/arsenals-u18-u16s-claim-wins-over-west-ham/
Under 18’s & Under 16’s beat West Ham :)
West Ham’s only world class U18(Josh Payne) is out on loan dominating in League 1 at just 17 years of age, it’s no wonder the youths are struggling without the next Steven Gerrard to lead them. Imagine Arsenal without Fabregas! :-O
Whereas at U16 level it’s who has the bigger boys, not who is the most talented.
You just typed out two XIs, one of which featured Walcott (who scored a hat-trick against Croatia), Bendtner (who is a regular at international level) and Vela (who is widely considered the best young striker in the WORLD), and chose the other side to win. This makes you very ignorant of reality.
Not to mention an absolute world class midfielder, probably one of the top 5 players in the world now or in the near future. And two regular first team midfielders widely considered to be some of the brightest prospects in their respective countries, not an easy feat in France or Brazil. Another first team player who on loan is one of the bright lights for Portsmouth, a team stronger than West Ham.
J – with these youngsters that are being touted to other clubs, does this mean they are not good enough to play for arsenal?
If so how come they come stright back into the line up for the reserves?
As a West Ham fan I’m a bit embarrassed by ‘Zola is God’. Yes we have had some good high profile youth players, but there have been plenty that didn’t make the grade – and I am sure that is the same at any club. This forum isn’t the one for the more extreme rivalry comments that he has made here.
Our Team had a fair few more players with first team experience, Collins, Mullins, Sears, Davenport, Boa Morte, Reid (plus the Argentine Lopez who I understand is really pushng Ilunga for the first team left back spot), so I would expect us to have got a result.
Whilst we have a sucessful youth set up with Tony Carr, the Arsenal reserve/youth set up is one that we are looking to (see Gianluca Nani’s comments published over the past few days). Let’s be honest here, Arsenal are a bigger club than West Ham, but the teams last night – in terms of experience – were one sided.
The Arsenal youngsters have had a good run and I’m not sure how many reserve teams they’ve faced have had that level of experience. They would have gained experience out of the defeat – and remember it was only 1-0, so it can’t have been that bad for them. I see a successful Carling Cup run with these guys ;-)
Good luck to the youth players of today at all clubs, for they are our professionals of the future.
Excellent article.
Sorry Zola.. your a low life hovel dwelling Pikey scumbag on the wrong messageboard. All the “psuedoafricans” you mention were either born or lived in north east London from a young age however if the Hammers coaches were more proactive then they might have got them.Plus they are all skilful technical players hence them playing for Arsenal. Fact the Hammers u16 and u18s both lost to Arsenal and several reserve team players are with England 17s. You guys cant get over Jack Wilshere a 16 y/o pissing all over you last season in another 2 nil defeat but bcos he isnt pseudoafrican i guess it doesnt count – Keep on making noise about the few half decent players youve got bcos we all know that as Londons feeder club they wont be there for long.Pikey Moron
Where is my earlier post j. sanderson or is it ok for zola…. to refer to Arsenal / England players as ‘big pseudoafricans’ or is the word ‘pikey’ more politically correct. As a moderator your on dodgy legal ground either remove both posts or allow both.
I only saw the last half hour and coquelin looked impressive was all over the pitch, attacking and defending well. Who else stood out and what do others reckon on Coquelins performance/future?
resevere football is not all about results its about development of young players at the arsenal
oh please West Ham youngster are not better then Arsenal youngsters at all. You won a game get for you now let’s see you guys play in the Carling Cup.
first teams play on sunday aswel